With the team at Satyam Booth - CONNECT 2008

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Ministry of IT,Government of India  and Government of Tamil Nadu conducted the 8th edition of CONNECT 08 event which took place on Sep 11-13 at the Chennai Trade Center, Nandambakkam.   Satyam was the event sponsor and Subu D Subramaniam, my boss was the chairman for CONNECT 08.  Over the years this event has evolved into an international event.This year the theme was Global competitiveness and equitable growth driven by innovations.

Focusing on global competitiveness and equitable growth, the 3 day event commenced with an Unconference which was an unconventional startup with a brainstorming session where everyone in the audience got to voice their ideas on the topic “Technology for a common man”.  The session was chaired by several dignitaries including Ms Kanimozhi Rajya Sabha MP, Subu D Subramaniam director and senior vice-president, of Satyam Computer Services  Ltd,  Lakshmi Narayanan, vice-chairman, Cognizant,  Dr . Chandra Mouli ,IT Secretary of Govt of TN and Santhosh Babu Managing Director of ELCOT.

   The session covered topics such as Global opportunities in emerging markets, developing culture of innovation by building research and design capabilities and were chaired by eminent speakers.

Mr. John W Douglass, former president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association of America, delivered the keynote speech and said, "India has tremendous impetus and the future of one of the biggest democracies of the world lies in exploring the human capital".  The third day of the event commenced with sessions on Celebrating entrepreneurship  . Entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu who had made it big in the arena of ICT received awards from Ramalinga Raju Founder and Chairman Satyam Computer Services. I was elated to see my Professor Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala receiving an award for his contribution in leveraging technology for rural transformation .  In his speech Raju spoke about the impact technology can bring in improvising the living standards of people, He also touched upon initiatives such as EMRI and HMRI.  

The three day flagship event concluded with a valedictory session and a panel discussion where issues such as education, equitable and inclusive growth were debated.  The panel included our Chairman Ramalinga Raju, Ashok Vardhan Shetty, Principal Secretary, Rural Development ; Andrew T. Simkin, Consul General, Consulate of United States of America,  among others .The agenda for CONNECT 2008 was set with a proposal for establishing an Aeropark along with a nine point vision of India@75 which will be  presented to our Prime Minister.